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OPS Rejects The Newly Passed Lagos Land Use Charge Law
THE Organised Private Sector, OPS, yesterday rejected the newly passed Land Use Charge Law of Lagos State, 2018, vowing to fight the law with every legal means at its disposal. While describing the law which repealed the Land Use Charge Law 2001 as insensitive to business and land owners, OPS speaking through the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, argued that the new law would expect property owners in Lagos State to pay an increase of over 200 per cent in Land Use Charge even when the income of the property owner had not experienced significant increase to justify the charge. Lagos State Government also extended the period for the payment of all annual Land Use Charge Demand Notices for 2018 to Saturday, 14th April, 2018. The extension is to enable property owners and af...
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) Warned Of Religious Crisis
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has raised alarm that the six Nigerian Law School campuses across the nation may not allow female Muslim students due for Bar Part II to wear their hijabs during the 2017/2018 First Term Law Dinner, from Wednesday, 13th February to Thursday, 15th February, 2018. Its Director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, in a statement, warned of religious crisis if the hijab controversy is not properly managed. The don insisted that any attempt to bar female Muslim law students who wish to use hijab from doing so is an infringement on Allah-given fundamental rights of those students as entrenched in Section 38 (i) & (ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He disclosed that MURIC has received reports of a number of female Muslim law students at t...
Federal High Court Restrains Reps From Conducting Public Hearing
The Federal High Court, Abuja, has restrained the House of Representatives from conducting the planned public hearing on the Hijab wearing controversy between the Nigerian Law School and Firdraus Abdulsalam. Justice Anwuli Chikere gave the order on Wednesday in her ruling on an application filed by a coalition of legal practitioners, seeking to stop the public hearing. The judge ordered that the public hearing be put on hold, pending the determination of the substantive suit. Ms. Chikere, in her ruling, said that the plaintiffs, who are legal practitioners, had a right to bring the action since the decision of the House of Representatives would affect them. She adjourned the matter until April 24 for hearing of the substantive suit. It will be recalled that Ms. Abdulsalam, a law graduate, ...
8 Reasons Why You Should Study Law
Law degrees combine theory with practice Behind the law of the land lies an awful lot of theory and there’s no doubt that students will have to rigorously learn it, but remember law is a fairly defined profession and its tuition has to also be vocational in nature. Some universities go so far as having a mock courtroom, and running moot competitions and pro bono societies, giving students a real taster of what it’s like to practice law. Law and case-based learning goes hand in hand: Even when learning the theory law students will spend a lot of time trawling through cases. Law schools use real-life examples to demonstrate how the theory is applied. Students are left in no doubt as to whether the content they’re learning will have real-life application. Study...
7 Sacred Laws Of Law School You Should Know
“What’s the point?”… “I won’t make it anyway”… “Why would law firms pick me over others?”… “I’m never going to get a 2:1 or a first”… “I’m not intelligent enough for this”. These statements sometimes run through my mind and if you’re a law student, you may have had similar thoughts. I’ve never been the most intelligent student or someone who just “gets it”. I take my time and ask questions until I understand. I was once on the verge of being suspended from school, with no motivation and poor grades. With little hope for the future, I hadn’t considered university an option. But after passing my WASSCEs, I began to believe in myself and was accepted to study law at the University of Abuja. My first year was overwhelming and even now, entering my thir...
Uncertainty as Justice Onnoghen’s Tenure Lapses, All Eyes on Osinbajo
Following President Muhammadu Buhari decision to extend his medical vacation indefinitely in the United Kingdom an air of uncertainty has fallen over the judiciary and the country at large over the fate of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, whose tenure in an acting capacity will expire on Friday. Despite the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to the president that he be appointed the substantive CJN after Justice Mahmoud Mohammed’s retirement in last November, his position as the most senior justice of the Supreme Court and by convention next in line, Buhari ignored the recommendation and appointed Justice Onnoghen as the acting CJN for a tenure of three months. Should the president fail to send his name to the Senate fo...
Between Law school and NOUN Law Graduates
THE sudden transfer of Hon. Justice B.O. Quadri of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt to Abuja Judicial Division after fixing a date for judgment on the Nigerian Law School admission tussle between the students of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and the Council of Legal Education (CLE), leaves much to be desired. The preliminary objection alone lingered in the court for over a year but finally was ruled in favour of the students prior to commencement of the substantive matters. NOUN, a FGN-special project in compliance with the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on education was established by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. To motivate Nigerians, Obasanjo enrolled in the university’s programme, graduated and is presently doing a doctorate degree in Theol...
Market Makers in Nigeria: The Law and Regulation
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have released common criteria for licensing of market makers in Nigeria. The new criteria, ostensibly a response to the current global financial meltdown would be a part of a composite strategy to brief relief to investors and prevent a total meltdown of the stock market. The Nigerian Stock market was rated as the worst performing in the world for the month of January 2009. It has been predicted by some analysts that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will drop from 6.3 per cent in 2008 to 3.6 per cent in 2009. The NSE proposes a hybrid market model that allows for a simultaneous operation of quote and order-driven markets. Under the guidelines, a market maker is defined as “a participant, licensed by th...
NBA Moves To Review Rules Against Professional Misconduct
THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is set to review the rules guiding the conduct of its members in the discharge of their professional duties. Its General Secretary, Mr. Isiaka Olagunju, who said this in a statement in Ibadan, added that the move was to reposition the legal practice, improve its acceptability and sustain its leading position among professional bodies. He said the main focus of the review is to curb professional misconduct among members and nudge them to higher moral and ethical standards. Olagunju said the body was disturbed and often embarrassed by the deluge of petitions against some members on allegations of misconduct. He added that the NBA was making moves to re-invigorate the disciplinary processes and improve on ethics development. Olagunju said the first step woul...
3 Things Not To Do In Law School
When applying to law school, your personal statement is your best opportunity to present to admissions committees aspects of which you are that are not apparent through LSAT scores, GPAs and transcripts. It is this access to your personality and non-quantifiable characteristics that makes it such an important piece of the puzzle and enables it to set you apart from other applicants. When I advise applicants, I try to impress upon them the importance of a fresh idea and a genuine voice. Every year applicants show me their original statements, and they sound too generic and clearly were lost in the crowd of other applicants. There are ways to avoid a bland or ill-fitting statement. I will discuss three common mistakes to avoid that can result in an essay that might hamstring your law ...
Understanding The Nigerian Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2002
The Nigerian Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2002 (MLPA) was enacted at a period when money laundering was synonymous with drug trafficking. Consequently, the law sought basically to prohibit gains obtained from narcotic drugs and other psychotropic substances. With the advancement in information technology, commercial relations and crimes arising from them, it has become expedient to expand the scope of the law to meet circumstances and transactions not contemplated at the time. Addressing these issues in their jurisdictions, South Africa enacted the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act (POCA) in 1998; England enacted the Proceeds of Crimes Act (POCA) in 2002; In the USA, the PATRIOT Act was enacted in 2001 all aimed at stemming the menace of organized crime as well as empowering agencie...